Forty Years On Project
Peterborough Local Studies and Archives are working in
partnership with Eastern
Angles on the Forty Years On project.
A phase one application to the Heritage Lottery Fund has been
successful and we now have development money which enables us to
work with the consultancy firm Creative Cultures to
develop our action plan. We are looking to secure a full
grant of £150,000.
The Forty Years On Project is grounded in the Peterborough
Development Corporation Archive – this fascinating collection
charts the major changes that took place in the City in the 1970s
and 1980s. At present it is un-catalogued and
under-used. We will be training volunteers to assist in
preserving this collection and making it accessible using the
innovative ‘Re-visiting Collections’ cataloguing methodology.
We will also be looking for a team of volunteers to undertake
oral history interviews. Initially we will focus on three
areas in Peterborough that were impacted by the Development
Corporation – Werrington, Bretton and the Ortons. We will be
looking to capture the views of long standing residents, people who
moved in during the 1970s and 1980s, and recent new
comers.
We will then extend the oral history element to reach a wider
range of communities that have made Peterborough their home from
the 1970s onwards.
The oral history transcripts will then be used to create
community plays to tell the story of modern Peterborough as spoken
by its own residents.
Archives service praised following three-star rating
Peterborough City Council's Archives Service, which preserves
and provides access to a wide range of important historical
documents, has received praise following a Government performance
assessment.
The service, based at the Central Library, in Broadway,
Peterborough, was awarded three out of a possible four stars in an
assessment by Government department The National Archives -
outperforming most other unitary authorities by a significant
margin.
The result reflects Peterborough City Council's investment in
new research facilities for the public and a new database which
will soon see all archive collection catalogues becoming fully
searchable via the council's website.
Peterborough City Council's cabinet member for community
services Councillor Matthew Lee said: "I am delighted that the city
council's archives service has received a three-star rating. This
follows substantial investment by the city council and a great deal
of hard work by staff who have established a really excellent
service."
A £115,000 climate-controlled archive was opened at the Central
Library in June 2006. It is home to a wide range of documents -
including Latin Charters dating back to the 13th century - and is
promoted by The National Archives as an example of best practice
for document storage.
Peterborough City Council's archivist Anna Sexton said: "We are
thrilled with our rating and keen to keep up the good work and
continue to improve. We will be looking to offer a much wider
programme of events and activities in 2009 to open the archives up
to more of Peterborough's residents."
The archives, which also feature school records, building plans,
photographs, posters and business records can be accessed by all.
Visit our events page or research services page for information on how
you can get involved.
Historic Records of Deacon's School Now Available
Peterborough Archives
Service is pleased to announce the completion of a catalogue for
all the material contained within the Deacon's School archive. Work
began on the catalogue in 2006 once most of the archive had been
transferred. It consists of 123 pages, which is one of our largest
so far!
Deacon's is one of Peterborough's oldest schools, first opening
in 1722, and the archive contains some of the original accounts
belonging to Thomas Deacon, the founder, through to material as
recent as 2006, which is just prior to the school closing to become
a part of the new state of the art Thomas Deacon Academy. Family
historians may find a record of their relatives in the historic
admissions registers or may be lucky enough to find an ancestor
pictured on one of the old school photographs.
If you are a former pupil of the school why not find out what
life at the school was like in the early days? To do so, please
contact the Archives Service
Team in advance to make an appointment.
School Archives
You may be up to date with the recent closure of the
following secondary schools in Peterborough:
- School
- Hereward Community College
- John Mansfield School
- Walton Community School
- Bretton Woods Community School
We are pleased to announce that we will be providing a home for
all of the historic records from all five schools.
We will be releasing the collections for public use as quickly
as possible. However, preparing these records is a time-consuming
and painstaking task involving extensive repackaging and
cataloguing.
The first collection ready for public consultation will be the
Deacon's School Archive which dates from 1686, and comprises over
45 boxes of historic documents including the early accounts of
Thomas Deacon, Admission Registers and much more.
Peterborough Town Football Club
In November 2005 the Peterborough Archives Service was given a
photograph of the Peterborough Town Football Club Team that won the
Senior Cup in the 1904-5 season. Very little is known about the
Club although it is believed that it was formed in September 1900,
although this meeting may simply have been held to re-establish the
Club.
If anyone has any information regarding the Club or has records
relating to it, the Archives Service would love to hear from you.
Please contact us via email archives.services@vivacity-peterborough.com
or phone on 01733 864160.
Find out more about donating records to the Peterborough
Archives Service.
Many of Peterborough’s most popular cultural and sporting
facilities are part of Vivacity, an independent,
not-for-profit organisation with charitable status.
Find out more about
the trust on the Vivacity website.